


Tryst

by wugi



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, implied sakyoizu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:49:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27403807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wugi/pseuds/wugi
Summary: The apartment's grapevine says that Tasuku's having a secret relationship.
Relationships: Takatoo Tasuku/Tsukioka Tsumugi
Comments: 4
Kudos: 48
Collections: TasuTsumu Week 2020





	Tryst

**Author's Note:**

> For Tasutsumu Week Day 5: secrets. Contains spoilers for the Mankai Apartment event, which is the AU this fic happens in.

“Hmm. Just a little bit off the edge here…”

Tenma reached into his desk drawer, but his hands grasped only air instead of the red grip of his pruning scissors. “Huh? Who stole my scissors?”

“What was that?” Kazunari asked from the other side of the room. He had been focusing on sketching Tenma’s most prized bonsai tree (at Tenma’s insistence) as reference for a commission for promotional materials, but finally broke concentration to turn his head. “There’s a thief in the apartment?”

“My spare scissors aren’t in the drawer where they usually are. Who would break into my room to take my pruning scissors?”

Kazunari hummed in thought. “Tsumu-tsumu? He’s the only other one in the apartment who deals with plants a lot.”

Tenma sucked in breath through his teeth. “Oh. Right,” he said slowly, pretending he hadn’t just made such a ridiculous accusation, “It had completely slipped my mind that I lent them to Tsumugi-san the other day.”

“I think I heard Tsumu-tsumu in the hallway earlier, he must’ve just got back from work,” Kazunari said, his focus turned back to the bonsai plant. “Maybe you can get it from him now.”

“Don’t touch anything while I’m gone,” Tenma ordered, rising to his feet.

“Of course I won’t! I would never!” Kazunari cried as Tenma closed his door. Tenma would have to hurry back before Kazunari’s curiosity got the better of him.

Tenma leaned over the hallway corridor railing and peered up at Tsumugi’s room. Tasuku was standing outside of his own open apartment door; he must have just gotten back from work too. Tenma was just about to start towards the stairs at the very end of the corridor when he realized that Tasuku was facing someone – no, he was kissing them, with his head leaning down and a hand on the other person’s waist. Tenma couldn’t see who the other person was, with Tasuku’s back facing him and also somehow completely blocking the other person’s features from view.

“Huh—!” Tenma quickly bit his lip to shut himself up lest he get noticed and accused of being a peeping tom. But neither of the two people seemed to have heard Tenma’s exclamation; Tasuku looked left, right, before pushing the person through his door and into his apartment. The door closed, and Tenma was left alone in the apartment corridors with his mouth agape.

“O—kay. Okay. Okay,” Tenma muttered to himself. Even though his target was the room next to Tasuku’s, he didn’t want to go up there. The walls were decently soundproof but… what if he _heard_ things? It looked as if Tasuku was about to get intimate with that other person. Tsumugi would surely make conversation with him rather than simply just hand the scissors over, so he would have to be up there next to the door for longer than a few moments. He didn’t want to infringe on Tasuku’s private life that much. He would leave the scissors for another day.

But the sight he just saw… maybe he should keep that to himself? Tasuku looked like he was trying not to be seen. But… what if it was something everyone else knew about? He needed a second opinion, maybe Tenma had somehow missed something going through the grapevine while he was holed up in his room tending to his bonsai. He would drop it by Kazunari casually, pretending to have known about it all along; just in case though, he would swear Kazunari to secrecy.

* * *

“Mor—ning,” Banri drawled, stifling a yawn as he entered the communal area. “Still not at work, Tsumugi-san?”

“Good morning Banri-kun. I don’t have any workshops to teach this morning, so I’m free. You don’t have any morning classes?”

“Skipping it,” Banri admitted as he sat down at the communal area’s table across from Tsumugi, his coffee mug landing on the wooden table with a large tap. “Got a company call in a bit. I still got a few absences left, so I’m good. I came down here to check my mail but I didn’t expect anyone to still be around.”

“That must be nice. I never even considered skipping my morning classes,” Tsumugi murmured, sipping on his own coffee. He had woken up earlier than usual today and decided to take it easy to start the day off, getting out of his room and catching up on some leisure reading. The former mainly because his fiddle-leaf fig seemed to be having a bad day and he knew he would only get more anxious the more he looked at it.

“Yeah, I’ll bet. You don’t seem like that kind of student, Tsumugi-san. I bet Tasuku-san skipped a few classes here and there though, huh?”

“Sometimes, if he was too hungover from an outing. But that was pretty rare, Tasuku’s always had a good tolerance and also he never really joined those outings that much either.”

“Hmm.” Banri took a gulp from his coffee. “Talking about outings… there's apparently a secret relationship going on in the apartment."

Tsumugi, who had been considering his struggling fiddle-leaf fig back in his room (again) during the brief lull in the conversation, suddenly snapped back to attention. "What?"

Banri sighed, his finger tracing the tip of his cup. "So you didn't know either, Tsumugi-san. I just heard from Kazunari that apparently Tasuku-san has been holing up in his room with someone lately."

"Oh. I-is that so." Tsumugi quickly picked up his own cup to take a long, drawn-out sip. He and Banri didn’t often cross paths outside of the apartment gatherings, but he had expected Banri to talk about his classes for the day or a new company idea as small talk instead.

"Kazunari said he had heard from Tenma, who apparently saw Tasuku-san usher someone into his room."

"Did Tenma-kun see who it is?"

"Obviously not because that's all there is to it. Kazunari tried asking Tasuku-san about it later but… well. You know how that guy is, Tsumugi-san."

"Ahaha… Maybe Kazunari-kun shouldn't have been so direct with his approach."

"You haven't heard anything from Tasuku-san? Or… seen anything? Anyone, I mean."

"Mmm," Tsumugi hummed, his gaze trained on the swirling coffee in his cup as if lost in thought. "I don't think so. I hadn't realized he even had been having someone over."

"Is that so," Banri murmured. "You live right next to him. You didn't hear anything?"

"Banri-kun… are you planning on reporting back to Kazunari-kun?" Tsumugi asked with a laugh.

"No, no," Banri lied, "but I'm just curious myself. I didn't think Tasuku-san was even interested in relationships. Well, not that I've talked to him much. I guess I'm just surprised he brought the person back with him to the apartment, with everyone so close."

"Yes, that is… very unlike Tasuku."

"…Tsumugi-san. I feel like you're hiding something."

"I'm not! I really don't know who this… woman is!"

Banri, who had been finishing his own coffee as he watched Tsumugi squirm, put his empty cup down. "Well. It'll come out eventually. There's no way Kazunari is gonna let this get swept under the rug."

"Well, it is Tasuku's private life. No need to probe."

"That's what you might think as a mature adult, but after Masumi's investigation into Sakyo's thing with the landlord got shut down real fast, the kids have been eagerly looking for more apartment gossip. We all live too close to hide stuff like relationships well from each other."

Tsumugi smiled. "Banri-kun, you're a kid too."

"Yeah. So let me know if Tasuku-san says anything."

Tsumugi let out a slow exhale, carefully watching Banri slumping in the chair across from him. Banri's eyes were trained on the ceiling instead of Tsumugi's face.

"Maybe I’ll ask him next time I see him," Tsumugi acquiesced.

* * *

"Tsumugi."

The water can's stream jerked a little, Tsumugi having been caught by surprise while watering the pots on his window sill. "Tasuku!" he coughed out, having previously been in the middle of humming.

"Did I surprise you? Sorry."

"It's ok… how was your day?" Tsumugi angled himself so he could peer out the window to better see his neighbor leaning out of his own window.

"'S fine. Everyone in the cast is doing well. It'll be a good run." After the apartment play that had successfully cancelled their looming eviction, Tasuku had seemed to throw himself more into his acting side-gig, even taking fewer hours at the gym he worked at to attend practices for his guest performances. It was nice to see Tasuku so excited about acting again since their school days.

"Oh, I heard something interesting today when I was talking with Banri-kun this morning…" Tsumugi started, putting down his watering can so he could lean out the window more. "Apparently word in the apartment is that you're having a secret relationship."

"What? Oh… yeah, Miyoshi was badgering me about something like that."

Tsumugi smiled. "It's the first I've heard of it."

"Well…" Tasuku sighed, crossing his arms. "I didn't expect someone to interpret it like that."

"Kazunari-kun heard it from someone who didn't see who the other person was, so of course the kids would come up with fantastical interpretations."

Tasuku stared at Tsumugi head-on. "So what are you trying to say? You want to tell everyone in the apartment? It's none of their business anyway."

"I didn't say that," Tsumugi responded easily. "I just didn't think so many eyes would be on us."

"What do you expect… the people in this apartment are nosy, especially Miyoshi. Well, lucky for you that nobody saw you so now only I have to deal with it."

"Ahaha, sorry _Ta-chan._ I'm sure their interest will die down eventually. Well… do you want me to make up for it later tonight?"

Tasuku sighed. "Tsumu… are you trying to be seen? Who knows if Miyoshi has a beat set up to watch my room now?”

"I don't know about that but we can say I was helping you practice your lines all night. They know we're theater nerds after all."

"Can we actually, though? There's this part in the script that I'd like to run through with someone—"

Tasuku's genuine smile really was nice to see again after their years of distance. Tsumugi was glad they were back together, albeit a bit differently than before. "Of course."

**Author's Note:**

> Haven't written or published a fanfic in literal years so take it easy on me. How obvious is it that I like writing dialogue more than narration…
> 
> This was inspired by a picture of the official merch for Mankai Apartment where Tsumugi and Tasuku's windows are next to each other. I took a lot of liberties with everyone's jobs and lives based on what's available in yaycupcake… (I don't know any Japanese nor play the Japanese server) I think Tasuku is actually a mechanic in the apartment AU but I don't care, Tasuku [list of exercise regimen suggestions cut for length] Takato works at the gym now. By the way, I don't think Tsumugi and Tasuku went to the same college in the apartment AU, Banri just assumes Tsumugi would know regardless. 
> 
> You can find me on Twitter @ busterbreakers.


End file.
